Paper-wrapped polystyrene foam beverage container

ABSTRACT

A beverage container having a polystyrene foam cup body wrapped in a paper covering is disclosed. The paper-wrapped polystyrene foam beverage container may provide thermal insulation while simultaneously providing a means to display high quality printed matter to the user. A method of making the paper wrapped polystyrene foam cups includes providing a polystyrene foam cup body that has been allowed to shrink to its stable proportions and thereafter applying the paper wrap. A promotional item may be attached to the paper wrap.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The subject matter disclosed and claimed herein is related to thesubject matter disclosed in U.S. patent application no. [attorney docketRHC-0009], filed Dec. 17, 2004, entitled “Paper-Wrapped Polymer BeverageContainer.” The disclosure of the above-referenced U.S. patentapplication is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Generally, the invention relates to beverage containers. Moreparticularly, the invention relates to paper-wrapped, expandedpolystyrene beverage containers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Disposable hot-beverage containers, such as coffee cups, for example,are typically made of paperboard or polystyrene foam. Paperboard cupsmay be desirable for a number of reasons. For example, a paperboard cupmay provide a high-quality printable surface from the lip of the cup toits base. Also, paperboard cups tend to be suitable for the attachmentof promotional items, such as detachable coupons, labels, stickers, orgame pieces, for example, that vendors frequently use for marketingpurposes.

Paperboard cups, however, tend to be poor insulators of heat. Apaperboard cup containing a hot beverage, therefore, may be difficult tohold. To compensate for the lack of insulation provided by a singlepaperboard cup, a plurality of such cups may be nested together. Aseparate cardboard sleeve may be used to provide insulation, or the cupmay include handles.

Polystyrene foam cups typically provide better thermal insulation thando paperboard cups. Accordingly, polystyrene foam cups tend to be moresuitable than paperboard cups for containing hot beverages—at least interms of thermal insulation. The exterior surface of a polystyrene foamcup, however, typically does not provide for high-quality printing.Also, polystyrene foam cups are typically not as suitable for theattachment of promotional items as are paperboard cups.

It would be advantageous, therefore, if there were available adisposable beverage container having thermal insulation properties suchas provided by polystyrene foam as well as an exterior surface that issuitable for the attachment of promotional items and for high-qualityprinting from the lip of the cup to its base.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A beverage container according to the invention may include apolystyrene foam body covered with a paperboard wrapping. Thepolystyrene foam body may provide thermal insulation and may be usefulin containing hot beverages in a manner comfortable to a user. Thepaperboard wrapping may provide for high quality printing on the entireexterior of the cup. Additionally, the paperboard wrapping may permitthe use of attachments such as those a beverage vendor may use aspromotional items. Examples of such promotional items include detachablecoupons, tear-off labels or stickers, or playing pieces for a game.

A method for producing such a beverage container may include providing apolystyrene foam cup body that has been allowed to shrink to itssubstantially stable proportions. After polystyrene foam shrinkage hasoccurred, a paper wrap may be applied to the exterior of the cup bodyusing an adhesive, for example. The paper wrap may be pre-printed, orprinting may occur after the paper wrap is applied to the cup body. Apromotional item may be affixed to the paper wrap either before or afterapplication of the paper wrap to the cup body.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A-1D depict an example embodiment of a method according to theinvention for manufacturing a beverage container.

FIGS. 2A-2E provide several views of an example embodiment of a beveragecontainer according to the invention.

FIG. 3 is a partial cut-away view of an example embodiment of a beveragecontainer according to the invention.

FIG. 4 depicts a typical promotional item attached to an exampleembodiment of a beverage container according to the invention.

FIG. 5 provides a flow diagram of an example embodiment of a methodaccording to the invention for manufacturing a beverage container.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

FIGS. 1A-1D depict an example embodiment of a method according to theinvention for manufacturing a beverage container. As shown in FIG. 1A, afirst end 112 of a paper wrap 120 may be placed on a cup body 105 andheld in place. The cup body 105 may be made of polystyrene foam, such asexpanded polystyrene (EPS), for example. The paper wrap 120 may be madeof paperboard, such as solid bleached sulfate (SBS) paperboard, forexample. The SBS paperboard may have a clay coating that provides asmooth finish onto which high quality printing may be presented on thefinished cup 100. The paperboard may have a thickness of between abouteight and about fourteen mils. The paper wrap may have a smooth surfacefor the display of printed material. Alternatively, the paper wrap maybe scored or ridged to provide additional slip resistance for a userholding a cup, for example, or for decorative or other purposes.

As shown in FIG. 1B, the paper wrap 120 may be wrapped around the cupbody 105 such that a second end 114 of the paper wrap 120 is madeavailable for mating with the first end 112. As shown in FIG. 1C, thefirst end 112 may be mated with the second end 114 to create a seam 116on the finished container 100. The finished seam 116 shown in FIG. 1Cmay be finished as either a lap joint edge or a butt-edge joint. Anadhesive or crimp may be used to form the seam.

An adhesive may be used to attach the paper wrap 120 to the exteriorsidewall of the cup body 105. One or more beads of adhesive may beapplied at the edges 112 and 114 of the paper wrap or across the insidesurface of the paper wrap 120. As shown in FIG. 1D, one or more lines ofadhesive 121 may be placed on the inside face of the paper wrap suchthat an adhesive overlap joint is constructed when the paper wrap isapplied around the cup body. Alternatively or additionally, one or morelines of adhesive 122 and 123 (two exemplary lines are shown) may beplaced transversely on the inside face of the paper wrap. A surface coatof adhesive, from a spray of adhesive, for example, may be used. Abutt-edge joint may be used where the paper wrap edges 112 and 114 arejoined edge-to-edge with little or no overlap. This type of attachmentmay be realized by applying an adhesive to either the cup body in thearea of the resulting edge joint (see 116, FIG. 1C) or by applying anadhesive to the inside face of the paper wrap near the ends of edges 112and 114.

FIG. 2A depicts an assembled beverage container 100 in an isometric viewshowing the top of the cup assembly 100. The view depicts an insidesurface of the cup body 105 b as well as the lip 110 and the paper wrap120. Although a blank paper wrap is shown, it is to be understood thatthe paper wrap 120 may contain printed material.

FIG. 2B depicts an isometric view showing the bottom of cup 100. Asshown, the paper wrap 120 may extend along the full length of the cup100, from the lip 110 to the bottom of the cup. It should be understood,however, that the paper wrap need not extend the full length of the cup.For example, the paperboard may be sized to expose a portion of the cupbody sidewall just above the bottom of the cup body.

The exterior surface 105 a of the bottom wall of the cup body may berecessed a distance 260 to accommodate the protrusion of dimplesresulting from manufacturing. The exterior of the bottom wall of the cupbody may be covered, in part or entirely, with paper wrap. This may beaccomplished via a folding and crimping of the paperboard covering theexterior of the bottom wall of the cup body. Alternately, a bottom papercover may be realized using a separate disc of paperboard attached tothe bottom of the cup.

FIG. 2C depicts a side view of a paper wrapped polystyrene foam cup 100having a cup height H, a top diameter D1, and bottom diameter D2. Table1 provides example dimensions. Though the dimensions provided in Table 1are examples only, it should be understood that such dimensions providefor assembly of the cup 100 via standard manufacturing techniques andfor shipping of a plurality of such cups in standard containers.Dispensing of the assembled cups may be accommodated by sizestandardization. TABLE 1 Descriptive Bottom Diameter Cup Size Height (H)Top Diameter (D1) (D2) 12 Ounce 4.288 inches 3.650 inches 2.100 inches16 Ounce 5.170 inches 3.650 inches 2.193 inches 20 Ounce 6.061 inches3.650 inches 2.376 inches

FIGS. 2D and 2E are bottom and top views, respectively, of an exampleembodiment of a paper-wrapped EPS cup according to the invention. Thebottom view of FIG. 2D shows the outside surface 105 a of the bottomwall of the cup body and the paper wrap 120. The top view of FIG. 2Eshows, from the outside of the drawing,moving inward, the cup lip 110,the inside wall 105 b of the cup body, a stacking shelf 108 of theinside cup body wall 105 c, a straight section 109 at the bottom of thecup body and the inside surface 105 c of the bottom wall of the cupbody. The stacking shelf 108 and the straight section at the bottom ofthe cup appear as concentric rings on FIG. 2E but are more clearlydepicted in FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 depicts a cross section of an embodiment of paper wrappedpolystyrene foam cup 100, having a lip 110 and a paperboard wrap 120.Details of the cup body include an inner wall 105 b, a stacking shelf108 on the inside cup body wall 105 b, a straight section 109 at thebottom of the cup body, the inside surface 105 c of the bottom wall ofthe cup body and the outside surface 105 c of the bottom wall. Thestacking shelf 108 allows a plurality of such paper-wrapped polystyrenefoam cups to be stacked one cup upon another such that a desirable pitchmay be achieved between stacked cups.

FIG. 3 depicts a plane P formed by the external side wall of cup body105. In typical polystyrene foam cup designs, the exterior side walljuts out to provide additional thickness to the cup wall under the lip.As shown in FIG. 3, the external wall under the lip may be straight tomaximize contact between the exterior side wall of the cup body 105 andthe paper wrap 120. Extra thickness of the lip may be achieved by theaddition of wall thickness on the inside wall, at 105 d, to provideextra strength and rigidity to the lip 110. The thickness L1 of the lip110 may be roughly equal to or greater than the height L2 of the lip110. In an example embodiment, the thickness L1 of lip 110 may beroughly 50% more than the height L2 of the lip. A typical set ofdimensions for lip width L1 and lip height L2 are 0.100 and 0.150,respectively.

FIG. 4 depicts an assembled paper-wrapped polystyrene foam beveragecontainer with an attached promotional item 450. The cup 400 of FIG. 4includes a cup body 405 having a lip 410 and a paper wrap 420. Theoptional promotional item 450 is attached to the paper wrap 420. Thepromotional item 450 may be attached to the paper wrap 420 via anadhesive after the cup 400 has been assembled. Alternatively, thepromotional item 450 may be attached to the paper wrap 420 before thecup 400 is assembled. An additional alternative is to fabricate thepromotional item 450 into the paper wrap 420 so that no separate processfor attachment of the promotional item is necessary. For example, thepromotional item may be integral to the paper wrap or a second layer ofthe paper wrap 420.

As shown, the promotional item 450 may have a separable portion 457which may be removed. The removal of the separable portion 457 may beaccommodated by either a tab or a cut-out in allowing a user to pull onthe separable item. Perforations 455 in the promotional item layer allowthe separable portion to be easily removed. The separable item 457 maybe a useful marketing item such as a coupon for merchandise or a gamepiece. Other methods of displaying and attaching a promotional item 450to a paper wrap 420 may be accommodated such as are commonly used inmaking separable labels. Examples include promotional labels similar tothose on medicine containers where a topmost layer can be removed toexpose information printed on either the topmost layer or a second,non-separable, layer.

FIG. 5 is a depiction of a process 500 of making a paper wrappedpolystyrene foam cup assembly. The process begins by providing apolystyrene foam cup body (step 502). In one embodiment the cup body isan expanded polystyrene cup body. The cup body may have an integral cuplip. The polystyrene foam cup body may be allowed to cure or shrink(step 506) before being used in the cup assembly. Since shrinkage mayoccur in polystyrene foam materials as the material cures aftermanufacture, the invention accommodates the effect by preferably usingcup bodies that have been reduced to their substantially stableproportions before application of a paper wrap on the body.

In an ambient environment, shrinkage will occur in roughly a week.However, as local ambient environments are subject to pressure,temperature, and humidity variations, the one week time period may havea tolerance of about two days. In a controlled environment, wheretemperature, pressure, and or humidity are regulated, the shrinkage timemay be altered to shorten the average one week period for shrinkage. Ithas been discovered that, if the paperboard is applied before the cup isallowed to shrink to its stable proportions, the paperboard wrinkles asthe polystyrene foam body shrinks. Allowing the cup body to shrinkbefore application of the paperboard prevents wrinkling of thepaperboard.

A paper wrap is preferably provided (step 508) before the assembly ofthe cup. The paper wrap may be made of clay-coated SBS paperboard, whichprovides for high-quality printing on the paper wrap. The paper wrap maybe pre-printed, or printing may occur after the wrap is applied to thecup body.

The paper wrap may then be applied (step 510) to the polystyrene foamcup body. An adhesive may be placed on the paper wrap, the cup body, orboth. The paper wrap may be attached to the cup body via a techniquethat includes overlapping the paper wrap ends, and then crimping orbutt-joining the paper wrap ends.

After the paper wrap is affixed to the cup body, the cup assembly may beallowed to cure if an adhesive is used. A promotional item may beattached to the paper wrap (step 512). The promotional item may beaffixed to the exterior of the paper wrap using any commonly knowntechnique such as an adhesive or a crimp. The optional step ofpromotional item attachment may be skipped if no promotional item isdesired or if the promotional item is pre-affixed to the paper wrapbefore the paper wrap is attached in step 510.

Though aspects of the present invention has been described in connectionwith the preferred embodiments of the various figures, it is to beunderstood that other similar embodiments may be used or modificationsand additions may be made to the described embodiment for performing thesame function of the present invention without deviating therefrom.Therefore, the claimed invention should not be limited to any singleembodiment, but rather should be construed in breadth and scope inaccordance with the appended claims.

1. A beverage container, comprising: a polystyrene foam cup body havinga bottom and a side wall extending from the bottom, the side wallforming an open end opposite the bottom; and a paper wrap disposedcircumferentially around an exterior of the cup body.
 2. The beveragecontainer of claim 1, wherein the side wall has a length and the paperwrap extends the length of the side wall.
 3. The beverage container ofclaim 1, wherein the cup body comprises a lip disposed on the open endthereof.
 4. The beverage container of claim 3, wherein the paper wrapextends from an underside of the lip toward the bottom of the cup body.5. The beverage container of claim 4, wherein the paper wrap extends tothe bottom of the cup body.
 6. The beverage container of claim 5,wherein the paper wrap has an external surface that is suitable fordisplaying printed material.
 7. The beverage container of claim 1,wherein the paper wrap has a smooth external surface.
 8. The beveragecontainer of claim 1, wherein the paper wrap comprises a solid bleachedsulfate (SBS) paper.
 9. The beverage container of claim 8, wherein theSBS paper is clay coated.
 10. The beverage container of claim 9, whereinthe SBS paper has a thickness of between about eight and about fourteenmils.
 11. The beverage container of claim 1, further comprising apromotional item affixed to an exterior surface of the paper wrap. 12.The beverage container of claim 11, wherein the promotional item isremovable from the paper wrap.
 13. The beverage container of claim 1,wherein the paper wrap is affixed to the exterior of the cup body via anadhesive.
 14. The beverage container of claim 13, wherein edges of thepaper wrap are at least one of adhesively overlapped and adhesively edgejoined.
 15. The beverage container of claim 13, wherein the adhesive isapplied to an inside face of the paper wrap.
 16. The beverage containerof claim 1, wherein edges of the paper wrap are crimped together. 17.The beverage container of claim 1, wherein the polystyrene foam isexpanded polystyrene.
 18. The beverage container of claim 1, wherein theside wall has an inner surface that is perpendicular to the cup bottom.19. The beverage container of claim 1, wherein cup body is substantiallystabilized in size before the paper wrap is disposed around the exteriorof the cup body.
 20. A beverage container, comprising: an expandedpolystyrene cup body having a bottom, a straight side wall extendingfrom the bottom, the side wall forming an open end, and a lip disposedon the open end; and a paper wrap disposed around an exterior surface ofthe side wall, the paper wrap extending from an underside of the lip tothe bottom of the cup body and having an external surface that issuitable for displaying printed material.
 21. The beverage container ofclaim 20, wherein the paper wrap comprises a clay-coated, solid bleachedsulfate (SBS) paper.
 22. The beverage container of claim 20, furthercomprising a promotional item affixed to an exterior surface of thepaper wrap.
 23. A method of manufacturing a beverage container, themethod comprising: providing a polystyrene foam cup body having a bottomand a side wall that extends from the bottom; allowing the cup body toshrink to a substantially stable size; and affixing a paper wrap aroundthe cup body.
 24. The method of claim 23, wherein allowing the cup bodyto shrink comprises allowing the cup body to shrink while exposed to atleast one of an ambient environment and a controlled environment. 25.The method of claim 24, wherein the controlled environment comprises atleast one of a pressure controlled environment and temperaturecontrolled environment.
 26. The method of claim 23, wherein allowing thecup body to shrink comprises allowing the cup body to shrink for aboutfive to nine days.
 27. The method of claim 23, wherein affixing thepaper wrap around the cup body comprises extending the paper wrap alonga length of the side wall.
 28. The method of claim 23, wherein affixingthe paper wrap around the cup body comprises affixing the paper wraparound the cup body via an adhesive.
 29. The method of claim 28, whereinthe adhesive is applied to the paper wrap such that edges of the paperwrap become at least one of adhesively overlapped and adhesively edgejoined.
 30. The method of claim 28, wherein the adhesive is applied toan inside face of the paper wrap.
 31. The method of claim 23, whereinaffixing the paper wrap around the cup body comprises affixing the paperwrap by crimping edges of the paper wrap together.
 32. The method ofclaim 23, wherein the paper wrap comprises a solid bleached sulfate(SBS) paper.
 33. The method of claim 23, wherein affixing a paper wraparound body portion comprises affixing a paper wrap having at least onedetachable promotional item.
 34. The method of claim 23, furthercomprising affixing a detachable promotional item to the paper wrap.